Editing Sinking of the RMS Carpathia (section)

=== Sinking ===
Three and a half hours later, at 9:15 A.M., while sailing in the Southwest Approaches, a torpedo was sighted approaching on her port side. The engines were thrown in full-astern and the helm was turned hard-a-starboard, but it was too late to avoid the torpedo. The ''Carpathia'' was torpedoed near the No. 3 hatch on the port side by the Imperial German Navy submarine SM ''U-55'', followed by a second which penetrated the engine room, killing three firemen and two trimmers, and effectively disabling her ability to escape, as the engines were rendered inoperable by the second torpedo impact. The explosion severely damaged the ''Carpathia''<nowiki/>'s electrical gear, including the wireless radio apparatus, as well as two of the ship's lifeboats. As a result, Captain William Prothero, in command of the ''Carpathia'' since 1916, signalled the other ships in the convoy to send out wireless messages by use of flags. He then had rockets fired to attract the attention of nearby patrol boats. The remaining convoy steamed away at full speed to elude the submarine.

As the ''Carpathia'' began to settle by the head and list to port, Prothero gave the order to abandon ship. All passengers and the surviving crew members boarded the 11 lifeboats as the ''Carpathia'' sank. There were 218 survivors out of the 223 aboard. As the passengers and crew disembarked, Prothero, the chief officer, first and second officers and the gunners remained on the sinking ship, seeing to it that all the confidential books and documents were thrown overboard. The captain then signalled one of the lifeboats to come alongside, and he and the remaining crew members abandoned their ship. ''U-55'' surfaced and fired a third torpedo into the ship near the gunner's rooms, resulting in a massive explosion that doomed the ''Carpathia''. ''U-55'' started approaching the lifeboats when the ''Azalea''-class sloop HMS ''Snowdrop'' arrived on the scene and drove away the submarine with gunfire before picking up the survivors from the ''Carpathia'' around 1:00 P.M. The ''Snowdrop'' arrived back in Liverpool with the survivors on the evening of 18 July.

The ''Carpathia'' sank at 11:00 A.M. at a position recorded by the ''Snowdrop'' as 49°25′N 10°25′W, about 1 hour and 45 minutes after the torpedo strike, and approximately 120 mi (190 km) west of Fastnet. At the time of her sinking, the ''Carpathia'' was the fifth Cunard steamship sunk in as many weeks, the others being the ''Ascania'', the ''Ausonia'', the ''Dwinsk'' and the ''Valentia'', leaving only five Cunarders afloat from the large pre-war fleet.